This invention relates to various constructions for pierced earrings and more particularly to a one-piece pierced earring construction which is quickly, securely and easily locked in position.
For over one hundred years, women have adorned themselves with various ornaments and gems, with their ears being a principal site for such jewelry. Through the many years in which earrings have been used and have been fashioned in various configurations, depending upon the particular style and taste of the period, there have only been two basic earring configurations developed.
One configuration, with which this application is not concerned, is the clip-on type earring. The second category of earrings is the pierced ear type, and represents earring type to which this application is directed.
Although pierced earrings have been used at least since the turn of the century, little change or innovative variations has been realized in the systems used to securely mount the earring in the pierced ear of the user. The typical configuration found in pierced earrings for the last hundred years is a solid, elongated shaft or stem, to which the particular decorative portion of the earring is secured, with a locking mount or a holding nut slidably engagable along the elongated shaft for attachment thereto. Although various alternative constructions for the holding nut of this common type of pierced earring has been developed through the years, all of these holding nuts suffer from common deficiencies.
Initially, these prior art holding nuts were threadedly engaged with the shaft, thereby requiring mating threads in the holding nut and along the shaft of the pierced earring. Such a system is typified by Huber, U.S. Pat. No. 799,056.
It is clearly obvious that this construction suffered from many drawbacks, principally fabrication difficulties and expense to achieve the threaded construction, as well as difficulty of quick and convenient assembly by the user. Since secure engagement of the earring could only be obtained by threadily engaging the locking nut with the threaded shaft of the pierced earring, some expert degree of manipulation and handling was required in order to achieve the threaded engagement of the locking nut on the shaft.
In order to eliminte the necessity of threaded shafts and threaded lock nuts, a straight elongated shaft and slidable lock nut, common in today's market, was developed. In this construction, the lock nut slidably engages the elongated shaft and is advanced along the shaft until securely engaging the shaft near the rear of the user's earlobe, maintaining the earring in its locked position.
Initially, these slidable lock nuts are effective but, after continuous use, the shaft engaging and holding portion formed in the lock nut begins to wear, causing undesirable slippage of the lock nut while mounted in place. As a result, after these lock nuts have been used, undesirable and completely unwanted detachment of the lock nut from the shaft occurs, resulting in loss of the lock nut and possible loss of the entire pierced earring.
In order to eliminate this problem, various attempts have been made to provide a completely new locking system for securely mounting pierced earrings in user's ears. The only two such systems of which I am aware are found in Driscoll U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,446,033 and 3,446,034.
In Driscoll U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,033, a one-piece earring holding shaft is disclosed, but without the use of any pivoting or moving portions formed thereon. Instead, Driscoll U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,033 teaches a one-piece earring shaft construction extending from the ornament, and incorporating a combination of angular bends.
Although Driscoll U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,033 does teach a system which eliminates the difficulties presently encountered with lock nuts, the Driscoll U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,033 system requires the user to manipulate the earring in a variety of alternative positions, to insert the elongated peculiarly convoluted shaft into position, with the convoluted portions thereof performing the holding function. Due to the high degree of dexterity and unnatural manipulated movements required in order to completely insert the construction taught by Driscoll U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,033, this construction has not received popular acceptance.
In Driscoll U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,034, another holding system is taught for a pierced earring wherein two or more pendants are required and are supported by nylon filaments connected to a cylindrically-shaped toggle. The independent toggle is inserted through the pierced ear and, when one of the pendants is pulled, assumes a locking position. When removal is required, the pendant connected to the terminating end of the toggle is pulled, aligning the toggle for removal through the pierced ear.
As would be clearly obvious to one skilled in the art, this system is extremely limited in that it requires the use of flexible filaments which are positioned in the ear when the earring is worn. This is generally undesirable and unwanted by users. Furthermore, the dual-pendant construction which is required to properly operate the toggle is extremely limiting and prevents a pierced earring construction which will accommodate the majority of present day pierced earring designs.
As is clearly apparent from this review of prior art pierced earring holding systems, there is a long-felt need, which is yet satisfied, for a pierced earring holding system which is (1) easily employed by the user without requiring uncomfortable and unnatural manipulative movements of the earring during the insertion process, and (2) securely locked in position without fear of loss of any locking portion or of the earring itself.
Therefore, it is a principal object of this invention to provide a pierced earring holding system which is easily and quickly inserted into the pierced ear and rapidly locked into position.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a pierced earring holding system having the characteristic features defined above having a one-piece construction with the locking portion integrally formed with the pierced earring shaft.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a pierced earring holding system having the characteristic features defined above which can be employed on all pierced earring designs regardless of the size or shape or construction of the visible ornamentation.
Other and more specific objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.